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Vault City introduces ‘sour scale’ along with five lip-puckering beers
The UK’s leading sour beer brewery, Vault City, is introducing a sour scale to make sour beer more accessible to consumers.
The Edinburgh-based brewery revealed that it will launch its scale, with five corresponding sour beers to celebrate, on International Sour Beer Day on 20 September.
Speaking to the drinks business, Vault City co-founder Steven Smith Hay said: “This sour scale is just one of the many ways we are trying to bring sour beer to different demographics. This year we have committed to attracting new drinkers to the beer category with our extensive and outlandish flavours – over 300 flavours, in fact.”
Vault City’s five new sour beers launching alongside the scale have been inspired by flavours ranging from nostalgic, childhood ice creams to the nation’s favourite baked goods and will be available to buy online with a 15% discount for all customers ordering before midnight on 22 September.
Describing how the sour beer category has grown in popularity, Smith Hay told db how “the category is expanding year-on-year” and said that even though Vault City was “a top producer of sour beer in the UK and Europe” the team wants “to see it go further” and hopes this will help this “style of beer to become more mainstream”.
According to Smith Hay, consumer behaviour is in Vault City’s favour, and “sours are more and more sought-after in comparison to other styles of beer”. Smith revealed that to back this up there was evidence to show how “this year alone there was a 6.5% increase of Untapped check-ins for sour beer”.
The new beers will be Orange Creamsicle (4.8% ABV), Carrot Cake (8.0% ABV) and Pineapple Upside Down Cake (8.0% ABV) and will cover levels one to three, giving drinkers a “slightly zesty buzz while bursting with tropical esters”. While at levels four and five are Passionfruit Lemon Sorbet (5.9% ABV) and Apple Soor (4.5% ABV) respectively – which are “for the more seasoned sour drinkers, providing a juicy yet face-contorting, eye-scrunching tang”.
Smith Hay stated: “To aid with this global growth strategy, our new hires, Luca Lorenzoni, our strategic advisor and Martin Munro, our commercial director, have come at just the right time. With huge brands like Camden Town Brewery and Northern Monk in their repertoire, we are in good hands to help reach new drinkers and show that sour beer isn’t something that is only seasonal but has demand all year round.”
The category, which was first created in Belgium in the early 18th century, with classic styles including Belgian Lambics, Gueuze, German Gose, and Berliner Weiss, has grown in recognition with sour beers having risen in popularity in recent years.
Smith Hay insisted: “We wanted to show that sour beer really can be enjoyed by everyone. A common issue is that people go ‘too deep’ at the start and are put off sours for life – it’s like giving a baby a Scotch Bonnet chilli… Our sour scale holds your hand and helps you navigate the journey.”
Research conducted by Vault City last year revealed around a third (31%) of UK drinkers are more likely to be experimental when it comes to choosing drinks than they were prior to March 2020.
Smith Hay co-founded Vault City in 2018 but has since expanded Vault City Brewery so that it can now produce more than 10 million litres per year, which could make it the world’s biggest sour beer brewery. It is also responsible for the “sourest beer ever created”.
Smith Hay added: “Sour Beer Day is like Christmas for us – as the UK’s largest sour beer producer, we knew we had to pack a punch with this year’s launch. To us, the sour beer brewing process is a chance to have fun and be creative. The customisation of acidity levels is just one area we can play around with. Beyond the sourness, we like to spice things up with quirky flavours like fruit purees or cake batter. I suggest you all sip back and pucker up for this year’s launch.”
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